Combination runner and base



Dec. 22, 1953 G. B. COLLMAN COMBINATION RUNNER AND BASE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 28, 1950 INVENTOR. GEOQGE 5. COLL/Wm flTTOE/VE Yfi' Dec. 22, 1953 G. B. COLLMAN 2,663,181

COMBINATION RUNNER AND BASE Filed Feb. 28, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. GEORGE B. COLL/VAN Dec. 22, 1953 G. B. COLLMAN COMBINATION RUNNER AND BASE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 28, 1950 INVENTOR. 650/265 .5. CoLLMn/v Patented Dec. 22, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION RUNNER AND BASE George B. Collman, Seattle, Wash. Application February 28, 1950, Serial No. 146,750

2 Claims.

This invention relates to building wall construction and it has reference more particularly to improvements in the design and mode of use of metal runners for the securement of ribbed metal lath, plaster board, or other plaster base materials, to a floor or base surface for the construction of plaster walls and partitions.

, It is the principal object of this invention to provide a strong, durable, lightweight, and easily applied combination runner and base, that may be nailed or otherwise suitably secured to a concrete, wood or other form of floor, as an aligning and securing means for a plaster base material such as metal lath, plasterboard or the like,

and which will serve additionally as a base board and will provide the grounds to which the surfaces atone or both sides of the plaster wall, as made, may be gauged.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a combined runner and base which is adapted,

after being secured in place, to receive a filler, or grout, to seal the joint between it and the floor to which it is applied.

. Other objects of the invention are to be found in the specific forms of metal runners as used both for solid single wall, and for double wall constructions.

Still further objects of the invention reside in the details of construction embodied in the various forms of runners and in their combination and use with various plaster bases for the making of walls, as will hereinafter be fully described.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, I have provided the improved de-' tails of construction, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a side view of a portion of a solid partition wall utilizing therein one form of metal runner embodied by the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the wall, taken substantially. on line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the wall, taken on line '33 in Fig. 1.

Fig.- 4-is a cross-sectional view of a wall of fdouble-construction wherein a modified form of-runner embodied by the present invention is used.

7 Fig. .5 is a perspective view of a length of the runner used in the solid wall construction shown Figs. ,1 to 3.

Fig. 6 is a, perspective view of paired runners as applied to the wall of double construction shown in Fig. 4..

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a runner designed to serve additionally as a base board.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a wall in which a runner of still another modified form is used.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a portion of the runner used in the wall of Fig. 8.

While it is the intention that the present device be used and designated as a combined runner and base board, it is not to be implied that in some instances, base boards or ordinary or special types might be used in addition thereto. In the following specification and claims the device, which I have designated as a combination runner and base, will be'referred to merely as a runner, whether or not it be employed also as a base.

In the making of what are referred to as solid plaster walls, of those kinds quite extensively used in present day apartment construction for partitions, it is the practise to attach strips of wood or metal to the floors and ceilings and to secure panels of selected plaster base material to these strips, and then to apply plaster to the secured base material.

Generally, ribbed metal lath, plaster board, or the like, is used as plaster base material. Here: tofore, wooden strips have been extensively employed as floor runners but have not proven entirely satisfactory for various reasons, one of which is the lack of their fire and moisture resistance. Another is the difficulty in securing the plaster base or lath thereto. Also, metal strips both of angle and channel form have been employed as runners, but such have not heretofore provided means for the easy and satisfactory securement of the runner to the floor.

In view of the above, and for other reasons, it has been an object of this invention to devise a metal runner that avoids all the objectionable features of wooden and metal strips or runners as heretofore used, and which also has many advantages thereover, among which are their use as grounds for the finishing of opposite surfaces of the plaster wall; the provision for receiving a joint sealing grout; their use as a finishing base and base molding for opposite sides of the walls, and as a self centering means for the plaster base material.

Referring more in detail to the drawings In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, I have shown a runner embodied by the present invention as used in the making of a solid plaster wall. The runner comprises an elongated strip of sheet metal, of a gauge that will insure the necessary rigidity, and

ca s. .0 tabs.

3 so formed or bent as to give it a cross-sectional shape substantially like that of the letter M. This runner has vertical opposite side walls, Ill-I from the top, longitudinal edges of which the material is sloped downwardly and inwardly, at about a 45 degree angle, thus providing the opposite side walls ll-l l of a longitudinally extending trough l2. The two sloping walls are joined ,at .their lower longitudinal .edges by a narrow, fihorizontalbottfim wall 1'3. [In a practical size as adapted for ordinary uses, such runners are about 2 inches wide, with the side Walls l0i0 about one inch high and the bottom wall l3 about inch across and disposed substantiall flush with the bottom edgesof the side walls, as best shown in Fig. 2. The trough-like structure that is formed by the downwardlyiconverging walls I l-l l and the bottom or base wall i3, serves as holding and-centering means for'the panels or strips of plaster base material to be used. This material might be expanded metal lath, plaster board, or any-suitable materia1-to which plaster can be *applied. In Figs. -1 and 2, I have illustrated the plaster base material -to be ribbed metal lath, designated by reference numeral 18. Such lath is usually made instrips about two 'feetwide, which in use, are disposed vertically, edge to edge and wired -or otherwise securedtogether along theiriajdjoining edges.

,In using 'the present metal runners, they are cut or joined to giv therequired lengths-and are then secured to the floors. To permit their seprement, the base wall 13 of the trough-like portion is perfo iatg d gat'regular intervals, as'at 19, in Fig, '5 and special nails, 2Q, are applied through the perforationsand driven into thefloor whe he it be w od. ement t e i l- In ap ly ng th ast rbase e al. which I wil hereina te re r :to as "la rega d s of ltssP 'fiQ n ture. b pan l r r s, a 9 proper length and are thensea e at their lowe en sfm' hc t ueh'lik r onof th ru .n rllc do nwardly ccn erging lls H -H cause "the automatic centering of the strips on .thabasawall l3 o ih'e'trou h. The ica edges I th strips errands mayb jo ed i ous ways; Eben to bett r retain th lath t ips pla t e unner." partially detached metal 12.55 tha are ifo m d' n the opi in.s ags redr l tion ip at re ular i ns the runn r, a e nt upi r vals vwal'sl y and wardlyagainst ppositeside o the lean hasibsen. sh wn: inL Iig- 2.. refer ly t e t bs 2,5 are of triangular jiormand are upwardly L! to bclidinsppsit ns as nstopp site sides of the lath ne th vide openin s 2.6 in the .runnerlthrough which athin grout, orother fluid s al ng medium may e u ed t fill t .hdllowspaces inltherunner thus ,to seal the joint .betw e noer and runner. Such a joint sealin sto t. .isdesi nated at 1,8 i F g-.2. rritei rably t would be qui k set in mate ial. as a i cemen the making o a wall. a l h ho di ip cf: su tablak ncli applied .tot e ceiling imp ope 'alignmentiwith the runner. .Such strips maybe of various kinds. Preferably an .angularly formedstripof sheet metal or metal lath is used. In F-igs. "1 and 2 the-ceiling strip 35 is shown to beof angle -form, with a horizontal flange that is nailed' to theceiling and :avertical "flange thatis iormedwith-holes 36. The top edgeportions of the lath overlap "this verticahflange andarewired ted; When they are bent 'from the walls :referred to as double wall ter walls providing an air space Such runners are made of metal strips in various a walloiadesiredthickness.

In Figsv i a'ndl6 I have .shownpserof ,a runner of modified form, especially designed for what is construction, that is, a partition comprising two'parallel, spaced, plasbetween them.

suitablelengths, each bent to a specific crosssectional form that"=provides a vertical outside wall .45, .and an inclined wall 46 that extends downwardly and inwardly from the top longitudinal edge of wall 45, "at an angle of about 45 degreesfandat the level of the loweredge of wall 45, continues as a 'narrow horizontal flange 43 that rests onthe floor. A runner of-thiskind, of practical dimensions would have anoutside wall l5, about'one inch high. The-runner would be about 1- /4 inches wide and thehorizontaiflange 48 about /4'inch wide. "This flange-isperforated, at regular intervals alongthe same a-s*at*'49,-to receive anchor-nails 50 therethrqugh.

In the malzi'ngpi "a double 'wall, right and left runners are used, and "they are: laid 'on "the floor in parallel relationship -with the 'walls '45 thereof atthe oppositeioroutside of the partition, as notedin Fig, ,4 and are secured by the-nails "5 0. The spacing of'the' runners preferably-should provide about one inch between their inside flanges. Plaster base material, suchas ribbed metal lath or plaster board, is .then'applied ,as shown, by :resting the lower edges "of "the ,panels of lath on'the flanges '48. 'Theserunners, as'the runner previously described, have partially detached tabs 52 formed inthe sloping walls at spaced intervals therealong, and these are :bent upwardly and inwardly as shown :to'retain the lath properly spaced from .'.the walls 45. The paired runners, similarly as in the disclosure of Fig, 2, may then be filled with a joint sealing groutas shown at "55 in Fig. 4 to seal thejoints between runners andfloor.

At the ceiling, angle strips 55-59 may be secured .for the attachment of the upper edges of the lath. These strips maybe of angular form as previously shown,or may comprisea single strip of channel form serving both sides of the wall. Such a strip, made of expanded metal lath, serves well and canlbe readilysecuredito the ceilingby cement nails'or'the'like.

After theplaster base or lath .has beensecured to runners and ceiling strips, then the walls are plastered and the outer surfaces of the {plaster Walls brought flush with the .outer walls 45 of therunners, which serve as grounds. The finishing .ofplaster surfaces imay be carried out as desired-for variousdecorative-reflects.

a narrow horizontal wall 63 that is perforated as at 64 in Fig. 9 to receive anchor nails 65 therethrough.

In use, this strip is applied about the enclosure and secured to the floor by nails 65 as previously explained. The plaster base material 68 is then set on the trough of the runner and secured to the inner walls 6| in the manner previously described in connection with the showing in Fig. 2, or by the application of vertical channel bars 68 to the walls GI and the securement of the lath to these channels. Plaster is then applied to the outside of the lath only and is finished flush with the outside walls 60 of the runners.

Still another modification of runner 10 is shown in Fig. 7 wherein the runner construction is substantially like that first described in that it has a cross-sectional form of the letter M but in this case the vertical walls are of substantial height, for example, from 3 to 6 inches, to serve as base boards. The outer walls 16' preferably are beaded as at 1! along their top edges as shown to provide a line of demarcation between plaster and base board. These runners may also have base shoe moldings integrally formed therewith. The mode of use and application of lath to this runner is the same as was previously described.

Runners of these kinds may be easily and readily applied. They provide for easy application and securement of the plaster base or lath thereto; they are long wearing, fire and water proof, and serve well as plaster grounds, and as base boards.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A wall runner comprising an elongated. body includng a narrow bottom wall midway its width extending its full length and upon which the lower edge of a wall board is adapted to rest, said bottom wall being formed with fastenerreceiving openings, diagonally disposed side walls extending upwardly along opposite side edges of the bottom wall at an outward incline and along their upper edges carrying depending vertically disposed walls companion to and spaced outwardly from the walls of the body and cooperating therewith to provide grout-receiving chambers along opposite sides of the runner, lower edges of the depending walls being in the plane of said bottom wall, and tongues cut from the diagonally disposed side walls of said body for the major portion of the depth thereof, each tongue being tapered upwardly and free along opposite side edges, said tongues having lower ends integral with the diagonally disposed side walls adjacent lower edges thereof and being bent upwardly and away from the diagonally disposed walls, said tongues being adapted for engagement with confronting side faces of the wall board, the diagonal walls including openings resulting from bending said tongues outwardly from the diagonally disposed walls, said openings communicating with the grout-receiving chambers and constituting passages through which plastic material is adapted to be forced into the grout-receiving chambers.

2. A metal wall runner comprising an elongated sheet metal structure including a flat bottom wall extending its full length and upon which the lower edge of a wall board is adapted to rest and a diagonally extending side wall along a side edge of the bottom wall extending upwardly therefrom at an outward incline and carrying a depending wall united along its upper edge with the upper edge of the said side wall, the depending wall being spaced outwardly from said side wall and cooperating therewith to form a grout-receiving chamber between the said walls, said chamber extending the full length of the runner, and tongues cut from the diagonally extending wall, each tongue being integral with the diagonally extending Wall across only one end of the tongue, said tongues extending upwardly and away from said diagonal wall, said tongues being adapted for engagement with the confronting face of the wall board, the diagonal wall including openings resulting from bending said tongues outwardly from the plane of said diagonally extending wall, said openings communicating with the grout-receiving chamber and constituting passages through which plastic is adapted to be forced into the chamber.

GEORGE B. COLLMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

